Alanna Faulman (flighty_munk) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2011-04-25 12:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | 2009-08-15, roxy |
Feels like I'm miles from here
Who: Alanna and Roxy
Where: Street → UofM hospital
When: Veeery late evening
At some point since leaving the building, Alanna had called 911. At some point since leaving she had sent out a mass text to all of her friends. At some point she had sunk down to the curb of a sidewalk, phone dangling loosely from her fingers as she stared blankly at the buildings on the other side of the street. With how late it was there was no one out walking. Had something major happened since she had gone away? Had the demons gotten worse? Had Zach let her go because the demons had eradicated everyone? No, that could not be true, she had received texts back from her friends and they had said nothing about the world ending. They had been concerned for her but nothing more. No mass panics, no...
A loud noise startled her and Alanna was on her feet before she could process what it had been, half-hiding behind a light post before she realized it was just a car starting up. Her heart was beating wildly and she could feel the adrenaline rushing through her body. If not for the fact that she had changed so often in the past who knew how long then she knew that her body would have been changing. No, look, it was trying but there was just no energy left in her to allow it to happen. Trembling head to foot she sank back down, arms still clutching the pole as she rested her forehead against the cool metal. Right then the only thing that she wanted was for the ambulance to arrive so that she could be taken somewhere that was safer, somewhere that Zach would not be able to get to her... somewhere that she could sleep without the scent of snake burning her nostrils.
Roxy would have received said text if she wasn’t busy driving an ambulance. She had just finished transferring a patient over to one of the hospitals in Detroit and got in the Ann Arbor area when they received the 911 call. Roxy didn’t pay much to the details as to what was wrong with the person and focused more on where she had to be driving to. some random curb in town sounded a bit fishy, but with all sorts of crap running wild since the Light of May, not much surprised Roxy anymore. She was on duty with another paramedic, both of them hyped up on caffeine to get through the nightshift and through the morning. The last thing she expected to start her shift off was picking up her missing friend.
She didn’t want to believe her eyes when she saw Alanna on the street after she took the corner. Slamming on the breaks, Roxy ignored her coworker bitching her out for supposed whiplash, because she was too busy booking it out of the ambulance and heading over to Alanna. Whoever said penguins weren’t fast obviously hadn’t seen Roxy run like her life depended on it. She should have been logical in the situation and not dive head first into it, but it was Alanna. For all she had known, the girl was probably dead. Well, she looked a step above dead, so that was something good going for Alanna, but that didn’t mean it calmed Roxy down a single bit.
It never registered to her that the odd sensation stinging her eyes were tears. They came so easily and rolled down her eyes as she choked back a few. “CHIPPY?!” Roxy could have woken up the whole neighborhood with the cry she let out. The pink-haired girl dropped to her knees, almost ready to pull the girl into a death grip bear hug, until she realized- No... she doesn’t do hugs. Especially not now. Shit, she could smell the terror on Alanna, and Roxy was never one to be good with the whole scenting emotions thing. Keeping her distance, Roxy did her best to be composed, but who was she kidding? The girl was bawling like she just finished a marathon of romantic comedies. “Oh my god... it’s really you. I’m not like, overdosing on caffeine and making this up, right?”
Alanna heard the ambulance coming, heard it stop. But she did not lift her eyes from their study of the pavement, not at the sound of running feet or any of that. Of course they would run, she was a mess. But the sound of being called ‘chippy’ in that voice made her look up. Oh, that face, she knew that face. That face belonged to Roxy and she had been one of the ones who had sent her texts, called her, worried about her... and now she was coming to get her. How ironic. Smiling weakly Alanna nodded. “It’s me. Texted you after I called in... hi Roxy.” Her eyes were stinging but nothing was coming out. Like her body could not muster up the energy to go through the shift it could not come up with the liquid necessary to cry. Releasing the post she turned to face Roxy all the way and felt her smile slip away. “Do I look as bad as your face says I do?”
“You texted me?” Roxy hiccuped those words, quickly placing a hand over her mouth to stop herself from freaking out. Of course, of all the times she didn’t check her cellphone, it had to be when she was working and driving. When she did drop her hand, she forced a weak smile onto her face. “Hi to you, too.” She couldn’t lie to Alanna - she looked horrible. Roxy couldn’t even begin to imagine what she had been through, but that’s why Roxy was there: to make it all better. “Don’t worry about how you look, Chippy.” Her hand came up initially to push some hair out of Alanna’s face, only to jolt it away when she remembered now wasn’t the time for that. The penguin girl sniffled, using her hand to rub her nose and eyes, then released a shaky sigh. “I’m going to bring you to the hospital and you won’t have to worry about a thing. Looks, food, none of it. Everything’s going to be alright.”
At least Alanna had thought that she had texted everyone. If it was a mass text then there was no way that it would not have gone to Roxy, she was right near the top of everything. Yeah, that response right there told Alanna that she looked exactly as bad as she thought. What good was being a were with all that quicker healing abilities when they did not work constantly? Or when you ended up beating yourself so badly that it stopped being able to catch up. “Guess that’s what happens in a cage.” She tried to laugh it off but instead felt the sound choking her up and she did something that was more than a rarity for her. It just never happened. The redhead leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Roxy instead of the pole, face pressed to the other were’s shoulder as sobs without tears started. It was then that her mind put together Roxy and the ambulance, realizing that Roxy was going to be the one to take her to the ER. “I just want to go. Can we just go?” What if he changed his mind? What if he came out here? Panic was starting to try to choke her again. “Please, we need to go.”
In a cage? Roxy didn’t know what she meant by that and was too scared to ask. The girl hated cages, especially during the night of the full moon. As much as Roxy wanted to know every detail possible, she kept quiet. Now wasn’t the time. And that laugh Alanna was letting out didn’t seem sincere in the slightest. Roxy didn’t laugh back, instead sniffling back a few more tears. The last thing she expected Alanna to do was abruptly cling onto her. It had Roxy gasping at first, eyes widening in shock until she heard the chipmunk’s pleas. After a second, Roxy embraced her friend tightly, crying into her shoulder and then eventually nodded. “I’ll get you out of here, Alanna. Don’t worry about a thing. I’m here for you.”
She did have to pull away to double check on the status of the stretcher being pulled out. Spotting her coworker doing all the hard work herself, she gave the fellow paramedic a weak smile and in return received a raised eyebrow. “You doing ok, Rox?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“...you sure? I’ve never seen you cry-”
“I’M NOT CRYING!”
Lies. All of it. Roxy knew better, though she would never admit it. Ignoring the other paramedic, she looking back to Alanna and slowly helped her stand. “We’re going to need you to get on the stretcher and fasten you in. You’ll be safe that way. I’ll ride in the back with you, if you’d like.” She squeezed her hand for reassurance, both for Alanna and herself.
Out. Taken care of. Alanna liked the sound of all of that and she nodded. For once she did not want to be let go, she wanted to be held and assured that everything was going to be okay. That Zach was not going to come out at any minute and just drag her right back. She had seen what he could become and she was full of the belief that he would be able to do whatever he wanted to with her should he come out right then. Roxy and her co-worker may have been there but that did not change Alanna’s view on it at all. All that mattered was when Roxy helped her stand back up. The idea of being fastened into anything made Alanna balk. “Strapped in? No. Why?”
Roxy would never do anything that was unnecessary, Alanna knew that, but still. Strapped in or confined or anything like that made her want to just stay on the curb where she was. “You’ll stay with me.” Not a question. A statement. Roxy needed to stay with her or it was not going to go well for anyone who was involved with that. “Fine. If I have to.”
It truly pained Roxy to see her friend shrink back in fear over the matter of being strapped into the stretcher. In her mind, it was like putting a seat belt on in a car. Nothing wrong with that. Simple safety protocols, that’s all. From the sounds of it, she was going to be riding the back with Alanna, which didn’t bother her one bit. After letting her coworker know that it was her turn to take the wheel, she focused back onto Alanna. “It won’t be long, either. I promise. We’ll be in the hospital in no time and you won’t have to stay strapped in.” Roxy herself shook as she helped Alanna into the stretcher, carefully buckling her in, then wheeled it on over to the ambulance. She did her best to be careful and steady, not wanting to strike even more fear into the poor girl. Once they were inside, Roxy closed the doors and took a seat by Alanna. “I’ve missed you so much, chippy.” Another set of tears followed those words as she clung onto her friend’s hand. Letting go to do simple tasks like taking her vitals was going to be difficult.
It would not be long. Roxy would never say something like that if it were not true and Alanna was truly grateful that her friend was the one who had come instead of someone she did not know. Had it been anyone else then she may not have been able to get into that ambulance. Now she allowed Roxy to strap her down. She wished that Roxy was not crying, that she had not gone and worried her friends so very much as she had. It had not been what she had meant to do. It wasn’t my fault. “It wasn’t my fault,” she told Roxy. It seemed so important to make sure that people knew that. She would never have just vanished without telling people she was leaving. Not with what she was. Not with the full moon. It was irresponsible and dangerous and people would worry. “I didn’t want to go... have you looked after Callalily while I was gone?” That was important. She wanted to know that her cat was alright and that her being gone had not done anything to her.
“What?!” The fact that Alanna had to say it wasn’t her fault had upset Roxy. Not that the penguin girl thought in any way, shape, or form that this was Alanna’s fault, but more along the lines that this was in the negative percentile of how much this was her fault. “Chippy, I would never blame you for anything! People who care about their loved ones worry. It would be like, totally weird if we didn’t.” The ambulance had began moving and was a reminder to Roxy that she had to get moving and, you know, do her job. “Don’t even think this is your fault. It’s not. It never will be.” Roxy squeezed her hand as hard as she could to let Alanna know she meant business. “I’m just glad you’re alive.” Finally releasing her hand, Roxy gathered all the equipment she needed to take Alanna’s blood pressure and so forth, saving the IV needle for last. “And of course I’ve been looking after Callalily! She misses you, too, you know. Keeps meowing at me every time I come in, like she’s saying, ‘Where’s mommy?’” It hit her right then that she hadn’t even told Alanna she moved back into her home and was no longer taking residence on Alanna’s couch. Now’s not the time for that.
Yeah, but... no, Alanna was not letting herself worry about that. Or not really worry so much as say one of the things that had been playing around inside of her mind for far, far too long. Since a few days after she had woken up in that cage. Why had no one found her? When she had come out of Zach’s apartment she had known exactly where she was. She could not go and ask Roxy that. “Yeah,” Alanna agreed, just looking up at the ceiling of the ambulance. As for Callalily, that just made her feel bad. Her eyes closed and she tried to not think about what it must have been like for the poor cat to be switched from one owner to the next, followed by the other vanishing. “I’m glad you took care of her for me. Will you still? Bet they’re not going to let me go for awhile.” Were or not she was far from at the top of her game physically, much less mentally. Mentally she was likely a danger to herself and therefore others. Sighing, she opened her eyes again. “I am so tired. You haven’t even asked what happened.” That surprised her.
“Of course I will, you know that. Whatever you need, you let me know, and it’s done.” Roxy was willing to do laundry, get new groceries in the house, the whole thing. Hell, she was already planning in her head what to do for a welcome home thing for Alanna, even if it was getting flowers and take out food. As for asking Alanna what had happened, the poor penguin was on the fence about whether or not to ask. Part of her - the social penguin side - was dying to know, not just for the sake of knowing, but also because this was her friend and no one screwed with a penguin’s colony. Yes, Alanna was considered part of her colony. Then there was the other part that was staying professional. She was on the job and right now, getting Alanna to the hospital and making sure she was safe and healthy took priority over questions. Roxy was in the middle of prepping her arm up for the IV when she spoke, “I... well, I guess I didn’t want to be all like, ‘OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED’ or something. Figured you’d want permission to be numb for a while before people bombard you with that crap. I do want to know, chippy, but I also want you to tell me when you’re ready.” Now obviously didn’t seem to be the perfect time for a lot of things. “This is going to pinch for a second.” After tapping her vein a couple times, she slid the IV in.
Instead of saying anything, Alanna just nodded and fixed her eyes on a spot so that she did not have to see the IV. Needles hardly bothered her after all the time that she spent with and using them, but still. Did not hurt either. “I’m a bitten, Roxy, do you really think a little pinch is going to bother me?” Far as she knew every time that she changed it would feel like her body was trying to tear itself apart. Or maybe some of that was just the self hatred that she possessed for being what she was. Yes, that was very possible. Just like it’s possible that they just think I ran off or something. Could her friends think that she’d just let herself go? “Did anyone look for me?” Roxy could do her paramedic thing, but Alanna was still asking.
“Was either that or I stabbed you, no warning.” She knew Alanna was a strong girl and something as silly as a needle wasn’t going to scare her. Still, Roxy felt the need to be comforting with everything she did for the time being. Someone was totally getting stuffed animals and flowers tomorrow, just saying. With the IV out of the way, all Roxy could do was sit tight by Alanna’s side and wait for the ambulance to pull up to the hospital. She prayed they got there fast, but at the same time she valued whatever time she had with Alanna. Sadly, the second they got to the hospital, Roxy would wheel her into the emergency room, then say her goodbyes. She had a shift to cover, after all. Definitely one of the down sides of being a paramedic. “Look for you?” Roxy repeated the question, a bit shocked that Alanna had to ask. “Chippy, we did way more than look for you. I called everyone in both my contact list and yours and no one had a clue. I tore the apartment apart, looking for a clue. Anything. Kiley even asked one of her cop friends to keep a special eye out for you.” Fuck my life, here come the tears again. This time, Roxy couldn’t hold them back. “If I didn’t need to sleep or eat or work or any of that mundane crap, I would have done nothing but search for you, chippy. I didn’t want to lose you. I never do.” The thought of having another friend ditch her scared the hell out of the penguin. She wasn’t letting Alanna go anywhere any time soon, that was certain.
Alanna shrugged. She was really out of tears at this point so there was not a chance they were going to come out. “Yeah... whatever.” It was not that she disbelieved Roxy. It was more that right then all that she could think of was that it had happened. And it had hurt. “I don’t want to talk anymore, okay? Do you have anything in your little magic box that can knock me out? Because if I freak I’ll change and that’s not safe for anyone. And I’ll tell you right now - the line between me being me and me being that thing is hardly there.”
Ok, that sort of hurt. Roxy didn’t expect Alanna to be weaving an epic story any time soon, but being told ‘yeah, whatever,’ followed by a request to be knocked out didn’t exactly have Roxy smiling. She did, however, understand the need to not be conscious and thus avoid shifting. That would have put not only Alanna in danger, but everyone in the hospital as well. Geez, I wish they had a better way to deal with bitten weres that was humane. She couldn’t just give Alanna an anesthetic on the spot, but the next best thing was a sedative. “Yeah, gimme a sec.” Keeping her voice quiet, she held back her tears while searching through said little magic box and quickly readied one of the tranquilizers. “This will make you really sleepy. It’s the best I can do.” With that out of the way, she injected it into Alanna and the discarded the needle. Hopefully she would be better in a few days. Roxy wanted nothing more than to have her chippy back.